| Popis: |
Background: Infectious diseases caused by pathogens, and food contamination caused by microorganisms, are compromising human health. The efficacies of antimicrobials have weakened by microbial resistance, while antibiotic toxicity is another challenge, arising the need of natural antimicrobial agents. Objective: Spices have been long used to enhance flavor and aroma of food, and for their antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. In this study, antimicrobial activity of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of five Indian spices i.e. Black pepper, Carom, Cinnamon, Clove and Cumin, was explored against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, by agar dilution method and disk diffusion method. Methods: For agar dilution, aqueous and ethanolic extracts, with concentrations ranging from 0.5mg/ml – 8mg/ml, were used. For disc diffusion method, varying concentrations of the ethanolic extracts (50%, 75% and 100%) were used. Results: The results showed inhibitory effect on the growth of the microbes at higher concentrations of extracts. Clove’s bud showed the best antimicrobial effect, having minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) less than 0.5mg/ml for aqueous extract and 6mg/ml for ethanolic extract against both bacteria, and had the biggest zone of inhibition i.e. 21mm, against E. coli, while Black pepper had a zone of inhibition of 20mm against S. aureus. Conclusion: It was noted that the spice extracts, in general, were more effective against S. aureus than E. coli. Therefore, spices and particularly Clove and Black pepper extracts have great potential to be further tested and developed as novel safe antimicrobial agents. |
